1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a device management field and, in particular, to a device management method and system for managing fixed and mobile devices in a unified manner.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, various technologies are being adopted for managing fixed devices and mobile devices. The Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) has produced the OMA Device Management (OMA DM) specifications for mobile device management.
The OMA DM is a mobile device management standard specified by the OMA for device management purposes, and Customer-Premises Equipment (CPE) Wide Area Network (WAN) Management Protocol (CWMP) has been developed by the DSL Forum to standardize the WAN for CPE devices to communicate with a server.
FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate conventional network configurations for managing fixed and mobile devices, respectively.
FIG. 1 illustrates a configuration of the CWMP network. In FIG. 1, the CPE 1 to CPE N 3-1 to 3-N are end devices connected through DSLs, and an Auto Configuration Server (ACS) 10 is a CWMP Device Manager. The ACS 10 manages the CPEs 3-1 to 3-N via a gateway device 20.
FIG. 2 illustrates a configuration of the OMA DM network. The OMA DM network includes a DM server 50 and the first to Nth client devices 6-1 to 6-N. The OMA DM server 50 can receive, replace, and execute the management objects of the mobile devices (i.e. the client devices) by using DM protocol to manage the firmware, software, and parameters installed in the devices.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the CWMP network and the OMA DM network are similar to each other in configuration, but operate with different protocols for managing the devices and different types of management servers depending on whether the devices are connected through wired or wireless channels. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a unified management method for the devices supporting either wired or wireless connection.